Work And Rest
by InsaneByBirth96
Summary: Spirit and Stein take their Super Written Exam. Spirit helps Stein cope with the stress. If there's any slash, it's fluff if you squint just right.


_**Gah! My internet has gone demented at home; I've had to wait for the school holidays to finish so I could put up this one-shot! Basically, Young!Spirit thinks Young!Stein is revising too hard for a test. Let's say Spirit is 16, and Stein is 14, 'kay? Enjoy! **__**J **_

Spirit was not someone to take stupid risks. On missions, he and Stein did everything by the book and was probably the least injured weapon-meister pair because of it. In regular school (if the DWMA could ever be called regular), he got good grades, didn't act up, and only skipped lessons if he wasn't feeling well. But back at his and Stein's apartment, the poor redhead had to take risks on a virtually _hourly_ basis. He never thought Stein would purposely hurt him - the kid was a little crazy, but wasn't about to commit homicide - but the various "experiments" his meister had littered throughout the place could. God only knows where he got his hands on all those test tubes and Bunsen burners. His guess was that the science professors noticed, but were too scared of Stein to bring it up. Still, they should have been noticing when deadly poisons found their way into their apartment. Honestly, Stein might be a genius, but he didn't have a gram of common sense when it came to health-related stuff. The thought that it might be a little risky to combine cyanide and arsenic together in the _kitchen_ had never occurred to him until Spirit had almost had a heart attack.

Now, he was outside of Stein's bedroom door, wondering if he was suicidal enough to go it. There was a keep-out sign at eye level detailing a rather disturbing dissection anyone who came in without his permission would endure. The thing that freaked him out was the scarily accurate diagram that was underneath the bold letters. Still, Stein hadn't come out of his room in - what was it now? - three days, and he was starting to get worried. He knocked as loudly as he dared, genuinely fearful of the door being electrocuted or something. There was no response to his knocking. 'Stein?' he called through the wood. No answer. He tried again a little louder, and got the same result. 'I'm coming in, okay?' Well, he'd given him ample warning. He twisted the door knob and stepped in.

Stein's room was nearly all white, with a few pieces of black. That went for the walls as well; zig-zagged stitches ran at all sorts of angles along the flawless white. It was way tidier than the average fourteen year old boy's room as well, and to his surprise, the health hazards were confined to one corner of the room where his chemistry set was arranged on a table. He breathed an involuntary sigh of relief as he noted it was in the corner furthest from his bed and computer.

Stein was at his desk, fast asleep. A huge, open book served as a pillow as one arm was curled between it and his head, the other dangling by his side, a dropped pen underneath it. A notebook was open, filled with the neat, precise notes he'd obviously taken before sleep had claimed him. Spirit sighed; this was becoming routine. His younger meister would go for three or four days straight without sleep, then completely crash and be virtually comatose the moment his eyes closed. It had been happening more and more the nearer the students got to the Super Written Exam, but he was always like it during test time. Lightly, he shook the snowy-haired boy's shoulder to try and rouse him. He sighed when Stein slept on, and gently began to pull the computer chair back. Putting both his arms under Stein's, he hoisted him out of the chair and laid him on the bed. He didn't wake up, but the moment he was on the soft surface, he curled up into a ball. Spirit put a bookmark in the book, then closed it and stuck it in the empty space on the bookcase, and picked his pen up and laid it across the notebook. He could never understand why people got so worked up about exams; all you had to do was sit and answer questions for an hour or so. To him, they were basically normal lessons. Of course, say that to Stein and you'd send him into heart palpitations. Spirit glanced at the calendar. The date of the exam was just under a week away, and Stein was the smartest kid in the whole academy. He out of everyone could afford to take a couple of days off. He closed the door quietly so as not to disturb Stein's desperately needed sleep.

The next day, Stein emerged, bleary eyed but the dark smudges under them were fainter. 'What time is it?' he mumbled, ambling towards the kitchen.

Spirit glanced at his watch. 'A little after ten.'

Stein groaned. 'Crap, I should have been up hours ago.'

The scythe raised an eyebrow. 'I'll be happy when this test is over. You're running yourself into the ground, y'know.' That earned him as withering a glare as Stein could muster in his current state, which wasn't intimidating enough to make him deter him. 'I mean it, you need to take a step back or you won't be in any shape to actually sit the exam.'

'Shut up.' he muttered, putting a box of cereal out of the cupboard. He crouched down to get a bowl, when Spirit appeared beside him.

'Sit down, I'll do you something.' He got a mumbled thanks as Stein sat down at the table, getting his notebook out and swiftly becoming absorbed by them. He didn't even notice the cereal been put away and the cooker top been switched on instead. Five minutes later, he blinked at the omelette as if he'd never seen one before.

'This isn't cereal.' he observed. Spirit rolled his eyes.

'Your powers of observation continue to stun me.' he said dryly, handing him a knife and fork as well. He'd played safe with the omelette; he didn't think Stein was a vegetarian or vegan, but he didn't really eat enough to have eating habits. He mainly lived off snack food and hot drinks, if he even remembered to eat. Still, when he didn't reject the first mouthful, he assumed he'd done a good job.

'Thanks. It's good.' Praise from his meister was hard to come by, even for something trivial, so he was getting kind of smug about it now. As the last morsel of omelette disappeared, Stein headed back to his room. Spirit innocently sipped his tea, waiting for the now awake Stein to notice the change in his bedroom. A strangled sort of scream split the air as the demented-looking meister ran out of his room again. '_Where the hell are my books?_' he shrieked at an octave way to high to be healthy in a boy.

'Oh, they're around. But I was serious about you needing a rest. I'll give them back tomorrow, promise.'

'Stop messing about. What part of "I need to revise" aren't you getting?' He ran a hand through his hair, looking like he wanted to throttle his partner right then and there.

'And what part of "you're running yourself into the ground" aren't you getting? You'd think a biology nut like you would realise a balanced diet and _regular_ sleep are important.' Then Stein really did try to throttle him. Luckily for Spirit, his body was still exhausted, so he was able to win that fight fairly easily. 'I mean it, Stein. If you get out of bed today apart from to eat and go to the bathroom, then I will take a hammer to the chemistry set.' _Maybe that was a bit much_. Stein paled so much he thought the younger boy was going to pass out.

'Bastard.' he muttered angrily, getting up and stalking back into his room. 'If you go near my chemistry set with a hammer, I swear I'll try out my new formula in your coffee.' Spirit made a sarcastic waving movement as his bedroom door slammed shut.

If Stein had thought Spirit would give up after the breakfast debacle, he had another thing coming. The scythe all but forced tomato soup down his neck, and was glared into forcing down a small sandwich after. His stomach hurt; he wasn't used to eating big meals in quick succession, but his chemistry set - and the revenge he was going to take on Spirit for putting him through this - were worth the sacrifice right now.

'Take your top off.'

Stein choked on the final mouthful of bread he was swallowing. Coughing violently into his curled fist, he choked. '_What?_'

'Take your top off. I've got a theory and I wanna see if I'm right.' He was probably going to die a painful death after this, but he really did had a theory, and the answer laid under the stitched white shirt Stein was wearing. His meister was somehow well-built and emaciated at the same time. He had an impressive six-pack, but his stomach was concaved. His arms had the contours of muscles, but were thin despite them. There wasn't a mark on his skin, but it was a pale, sickly colour, like a recently dead corpse. 'Now look in the mirror.' Stein stiffened, but obeyed, keeping his eyes downcast. 'At least start eating properly for my sake. Pretty soon, you won't be allowed to go on missions anymore, and you're the only kid in the school with a shot at making a Death Scythe. Come on, we've just got eighteen Kishin eggs and a witch to go, and I really don't want to be stuck with a useless meister who can't make that number go down. 'Kay?'

Stein said nothing. Spirit was now afraid he'd gone too far, and Stein may actually start looking for a new partner. He'd heard plenty of meister-less weapons say they'd gladly partner with him, even with all the weirdness he had going on. There was an unofficial theory amongst the students that it was Stein's raw power that had screwed with his mind and made him so eccentric, and not many people listened when Spirit insisted he'd always been like that. Franken Stein the freak was a lot more popular than people liked to admit. Stein yanked his shirt back on and went back into his room.

This continued right up until the exam date. He and Stein were in different classes, with Stein's taking the test first. So whilst the snowy-haired boy was taking the exam, Spirit was able to sneak into his room and find what he was looking for. Whenever Stein made a successful experiment, he documented it in one on his notebooks. After a few minutes of rummaging, he found the right entry.

_Formula 0592; tranquiliser. Tested on 11 subjects - including self - with predicted effects and no side-effects. _It then listed the different chemicals that had gone into it, which made as much sense to Spirit as their French lessons, so he skipped that part. _0592 does not push subject into full-blown unconsciousness, rather keeps them limp and relaxed for an average of 15-20 minutes. Possible future uses; calming of patients in hospitals, general anaesthetic for live subjects. _He found three small vials all labelled 0592, and pocketed it, before putting everything back the way it should be. Stein _was_ going to have a good night's sleep, dammit!

The night after the test, Stein was trying to distract himself from worrying about it by running another experiment. Spirit wouldn't have minded, but his hands were shaking so much he was scared that the apartment was going to get blown to Kingdom Come. 'Right, that's it.' he suddenly declared. 'Sit down, have a cup of tea, and tomorrow you'll see your name at number one, or at the very least in the top three. Okay?' Stein made a noise of agreement and sat on the sofa Spirit had just vacated. The redhead busied himself with the tea, making sure Stein's got a special ingredient added to it. 'Thanks.' he said vaguely, mind obviously still on his performance in the test.

He took a sip of the liquid, noting that it was a little sweeter than how he made it, but didn't say anything, finishing the drink quite quickly. Spirit made small-talk, but it sounded almost…far away. It didn't once enter Stein's head that this wasn't normal. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes as his vision got blurry. The tension began to leave his muscles, and he arranged himself so he was laid on the sofa, closing his eyes and enjoying the relaxation. The feeling was alien to him, and felt like heaven after the stress of the exam. He was dimly aware of someone picking him up and taking him somewhere, but he was too far out to actually see who it was. He felt his body been laid on something soft - a bed? - and opened his eyes to find his vision blurrier than it had been before. It still didn't bother him, as a vague redheaded figure entered his vision. 'Spirit…?'

The scythe didn't even try to hide hid smile; Stein actually sounded cute when he was confused. 'Yes Stein? What it is?'

'What are…what are you doing? What is…this?'

'Oh, I'm just going to do my own experiment.'

Stein looked at him blankly, with a slightly far-away look in his eyes. It took a moment for the words to reach his mind. 'Experiment…?' He didn't understand what the older boy had said.

'Yes, experiment. I'm going to see if you're actually capable of sleeping properly.' Stein's lips parted in confusion as something was laid on top of him. It was like a warm duvet, and his mind fogged even more. 'Just relax.'

It sounded like good advice to the drowsy boy. He snuggled deep under the blanket, letting his eyes droop close. Within a minute, his body's own exhaustion had carried him off to sleep. Spirit smiled as he observed his sleeping meister. His face was slack, and he looked much younger than he actually was. The colour his cheeks had gained from eating decent meals and his slightly parted lips made him look kind of like a doll. His breathing was soft and even, and if Spirit concentrated, he could feel the boy's soul wavelengths at the calmest they'd ever been. Tomorrow, Stein would get his test results, and most likely would go limp with relief when he saw his grade at the very top. Spirit was taking his test in the morning, so the grades would be ready by late afternoon. But for now, he was going to go over his notes once more, and leave Stein to whatever creepy dreams the aspiring scientist was having. He dimmed the lights on his way out.

_**Yay! My first Soul Eater fic. My reasoning for why Stein smirked when telling Maka's class about the exam was because he was thinking "Ha, I never have to go through this Hell again, and you do! Take that, bitches!" Or…something. And why Spirit was so focused on helping Maka was because he knew how paranoid the geeks and freaks could get about it. As for Spirit drugging Stein…well, living in the same apartment with Stein would drive anyone a little crazy.**_

_**Reviews are as good as sugar; please fuel my addiction J**_


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